Finding Traces of Grace in the Twilight of Life

By REV. ARNEL TAN STRAIGHT FROM MY HEART "WE live for seventy years or so (with luck we might make it to eighty), and what do we have to show for it? Trouble. Toil and trouble and a marker in the graveyard" -- Psalm 90:10 AGEING is not a choice, ageing graciously is! Psalm 90 is also called the prayer of Moses. It is also the psalm that many people use to prepare themselves for a good exit or a good death.Death is not a popular topic these days. Either we are too numb due to the killing that happens, or, too scared. Well, today, instead of the horror of death, let us see the traces of grace surrounding it. Moses prayed an honest, humble prayer which also portrayed the helplessness of man without God. Life is not only difficult, it is also complex. Yes, endowed with a freedom to choose, but on the other side of it are the consequences brought about by the choices we made. When it comes to choosing, I am afraid I have made more wrong or not-so-wise choices in my life and will still make more... meaning, more consequences to pay and more regrets rather than rewards. Imagine, if one wrong choice is to be paid by 10 years of consequence, you cannot reach the year 70 wearing a smile! That is why Moses prayed... ”Oh teach us to live well, teach us to live wisely and well"(Psalm 90:12 MSG). Life itself, without the bad choices, is already trouble and toil and it is only by God's mercy that we can survive! In the twilight of life, do not fail to see or discover the traces of grace that God wants you to enjoy... the grace not to over-worry for the next generation. Here, we truly see that after all, it was not our effort that caused our survival... it was the faithfulness of God. God’s concerns are much greater than your concern over your children and grandchildren. This does not mean that we become lazy and dreamless, rather, it should make us trust the unlimited God while we humbly accept our limitations... the grace to expect redemption before the final chapter comes to an end. Redemption is not only our chance to make it to Heaven, but also our chance to right the wrongs we made. This, too, is grace... an undeserved opportunity to be a blessing again, and perhaps to leave a better legacy... where people will not have to debate any more if we are worthy to be buried at the "Libingan ng mga Bayani". More traces of grace ahead... like the grace to accept and live with the regrets of life by learning to surrender the scars of the past; to learn from the pain of the present; Godly courage to live with the consequences of our sins; and the wisdom to live life by the moment instead of by days, months and years; the grace to grieve and grow and move on (there is no authentic moving on if there is no grieving. The grace of grieving would mean accepting the fact that something precious has been lost); to humbly avail of the chance to change. In the twilight of life, demanding people add to the loneliness of this chapter. Wisdom during the twilight years would be an attitude like this... to relate more and demand less. At the end of the journey is a prayer to enjoy a closure of every wound with the stitches of mercy. It is hope-giving to know that life is not measured by its beginning but how it ends. Life is not about perfection but about devotion. So, from this point on up to before the curtains close... Live well, live wisely. Pray that we may learn to age graciously! Moses ended well, he said that God replaced those painful years with a last chance to smile, a last chance to make a difference, a last chance to be a blessing to others. Moses took God's offer of these graces and somehow ended well. Remember, it is God who buried Moses, his friend! Indeed, let it be our prayers too. Oh! teach us to live well! Teach us to live wisely and well. Eugene Peterson said it excellently when he wrote these lines "We learn to live well when we learn to live wisely, and we learn to live wisely when we realize that our days on earth are numbered". Happy Ageing graciously!